"I Jemen ser man ödeläggelsen överallt - hus i ruiner som har varit människors hem, stora hål i marken där bomberna har slagit ner och sönderbrända bilar på gatorna", säger Becky Bakr Abdulla. Foto: NRC

Två veckor mitt i krigszonen

Thale Jenssen|Publicerat 02. okt 2018
Jemen Krig och konflikt
NRC:s Becky Bakr Abdulla har precis återvänt från krigshärjade Jemen, ett land i fritt fall med dagliga bombangrepp och en ekonomi i fullständig kollaps. Här är hennes intryck från en av världens värsta humanitära kriser.

Förstörelse överallt

Hon har precis tillbringat två veckor i Jemen - ett land som för närvarande genomgår en av världens värsta humanitära kriser. Under vistelsen blev hon ständigt påmind om att hon befann sig i en krigszon.

- Bombflyg svävade ofta över staden och våra huvuden, och ibland smällde det kraftigt. Vi försökte lokalisera ljudet för att ta reda på var det slog ned. De cirklade ständigt över oss och påminde oss om att något kunde hända när som helst, säger hon.

- I Jemen ser man ödeläggelsen överallt - hus i ruiner som har varit människors hem, stora hål i marken där bomberna har slagit ner och sönderbrända bilar på gatorna.

      

“Khalas. There is no more future. Nothing to look forward to anymore.” Yusuf’s family has lived in the same house in Amran for over 30 years. It’s the house he was born and raised in. As Yusuf and his five siblings got married and had children of their own, the house was filled with more family members. Yusuf and his wife have a three-month-old son and a two-year-old daughter. After Ramadan this year, on 23 June, the family’s life was irreparably changed. Yusuf woke up at around 2 pm to extremely loud noises and a shaking house as three bombs hit their neighbour. “Whenever there is an airstrike, we all gather on the first floor. We usually wait for 30 minutes before we go back to our rooms and back to bed. So we did the same that night; as we didn’t hear anything more after 30 minutes, we all went back to bed,” Yusuf said. After a couple of minutes a fourth strike hit. This time the bomb landed on Yusuf’s family home. “I got up from bed and tried flicking on the light, but the electricity had been cut. I found my phone and lit up the room. That’s when I saw that all our doors had been blown down,” he said. The wall separating his room from the room of his brother and sister-in-law had also been blown apart. Yusuf walked in with his phone in his hand. “On the floor, I found my brother’s wife dead. Half of her head had been blown off.” Yusuf started searching frantically for his other family members, eight of whom were buried alive. Four of the dead were his cousins, all under the age of 13, with the youngest only eight months old. Two others were severly injured. “We spent two hours trying to pull everyone up from under the rubble. Meanwhile jets were still hovering over our heads and we were afraid of new airstrikes,” Yusuf said. Three other neighbours were killed that night. A total of five houses and a mosque were bombed. “I am heartbroken,” Yusuf said. “My father and mother spend their days either crying or not saying a word. My father refuses to look at photos of my brothers and their families who died that day. He can’t look at them. I try my best to keep them occupied.” When asked what he wants the rest of the world to know about the situation for civilians in Yemen, Yusuf answered: “They are targeting civilians more than each other. This war on innocent people must stop.” Before they died, Yusuf’s two older brothers provided for the family and kept the hosusehold going. Yusuf has started selling the remaining family’s belongings to afford basic necessities. “My white hairs came after the airstrikes,” Yusuf said. “My only goal for now is to feed the children.” Yusuf told NRC staff that he doesn’t have anywhere else to go: “Staying in our damaged home is better than having no home at all,” he said. Photo: Becky Bakr Abdulla/NRC
I somras förlorade Yusuf, 28 år, åtta familjemedlemmar när deras hus träffades av en bomb. "De siktar mer på civila än på varandra. Det här kriget mot oskyldiga måste få ett slut”, säger han. Foto: Becky Bakr Abdulla / NRC

      

Förlorade åtta familjemedlemmar

Antalet dödade civila är extremt högt i Jemen. Sedan 2015 har 60 000 människor dödats eller skadats i konflikten.

– Jag mötte en familj som hade förlorat åtta familjemedlemmar i en attack, berättar Becky. Deras hus träffades av en bomb i somras, och det är stora hål i taket. De som är kvar är fullständigt traumatiserade. Jag pratade med far i huset och hans två söner i min ålder, strax under 30 år. Det var smärtsamt att se lidandet och hopplösheten i deras ögon. "Vi har ingen framtid längre. Nu måste vi bara hitta mat till barnen, så att de överlever”, sa de.

      

”De siktar mer på civila än på varandra. Det här kriget mot oskyldiga måste få ett slut.”
Yusuf, 28 år, förlorade åtta familjemedlemmar när deras hus träffades av en bomb.

Fattigdom och ekonomisk kollaps

Förutom spåren av kriget, var fattigdomen synlig på Sanas gator.

– Folk som tidigare har haft tillräckligt för att klara sig, måste nu tigga på gatorna för att överleva. Detta är verkligheten för jemeniterna idag och så har det varit i över tre år.

Jemen var redan ett av de fattigaste länderna i regionen före kriget, och nu har en ekonomisk kollaps lett landet till en humanitär kris. Enligt Becky märker befolkningen det på tre sätt - priserna på vanliga matvaror som ris och bröd har stigit dramatiskt, många får inte längre lönen utbetald och valutan har fallit kraftigt i värde.

– Ekonomin i landet håller på att krascha helt. Allt fler går i desperation ut på gatorna för att försöka höja sin röst och demonstrera. Många har nått bristningsgränsen.

Sjukdomsutbrott

Förutom dagliga attacker och ekonomisk kris, så härjar kolera och andra sjukdomar. Många internt fördrivna bor i läger utan lämpliga hygieniska förhållanden, vilket går ut över deras hälsa.

– Deras liv reduceras till att försöka överleva varje dag. De människor jag träffade sa: "Vi trodde aldrig att vi skulle hamna i den här situationen, vi har förlorat vår värdighet".

Läs också: 9 saker du borde veta om krisen i Jemen

Skamligt

Becky träffade människor i sin egen ålder som berättade att de känner att hela världen är emot dem.

– Som jemenitiska medborgare känner de att de inte har några möjligheter, att de är fångade i det krigshärjade hemlandet utan något annat val än att försöka överleva.

Hon tycker att det är skamligt att världen låter kriget fortsätta.

– Det är ofattbart att alla parter, både de som är direkt involverade i kriget och västliga länder som Norge, som är indirekt involverade genom oljefondens investeringar, får lov att gå in i ett land och fullständigt ödelägga civilbefolkningens liv. Det är helt avgörande att USA, England, Iran och Frankrike nu pressar parterna i konflikten till en omedelbar vapenvila och en politisk lösning.

NRC är på plats

NRC är på plats i Jemen, men restriktioner från de båda stridande parterna gör det svårt att nå fram med hjälp till dem som behöver den.

Under 2017 gav NRC livräddande hjälp till mer än 760 000 människor i landet. Becky är oerhört imponerad av sina jemenitiska kollegors insatser, som har levt och arbetat där kriget pågår i mer än tre år. 

– Många av våra kollegor har själva drivits på flykt och lever i konstant rädsla för egen del och sina familjer. Ändå kommer de till jobbet varje dag för att göra en insats för sina medborgare. De lever under en enorm press och gör ett beundransvärt jobb. Själv kunde jag sätta mig i ett FN-flygplan och resa hem till trygga Norge. De blir kvar där.

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